black disease
- noun
- Specialized
:
enfermedad negra
- Symptoms of black disease include darkening of the skin and sudden death in cattle.
Examples
-
Black disease is caused by liver flukes and can lead to devastating losses in livestock.
-
The farmer was devastated when several of his sheep died from black disease after grazing in contaminated fields.
-
It's a black disease.
Synonyms
A disease in sheep and cattle that damages the liver and makes them weak
An illness of the liver in animals like sheep or cattle caused by small flat worms
An infection of the liver by small worms that affects animals and sometimes people
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'black' + 'disease', so a B1 learner who knows the words would likely infer it denotes a disease involving blackening or dark discoloration. However, the full, specific veterinary sense (a liver disease of sheep and cattle caused by liver flukes, with sudden death) and its etiology are specialized and not predictable from the constituents alone.
Etymology
Black disease comes from farmers who saw sheep and cattle die suddenly with dark, blackened livers or bodies. That's why 'black disease' means the deadly liver illness in these animals that often causes sudden death and darkening.
